The second part of Jacob's history begins with J. the 28th chapter of Genesis; there he begins to be seen under discipline, and becomes the chief or leading character in that part of the book.

In his journey out toward Padan-aram, but before he left the borders of Canaan, the Lord appears to him at the place called Luz. This was not his father's bed-side, where he had been sinning, but a lonely spot, where his sin had cast him, and where the discipline of His heavenly Father was dealing with him. In such a place God can meet us. He cannot appear to us in the scene of our iniquities, but He can in the place of His correction. And such was Luz to Jacob. It was a comfortless spot. The stones of the place were his pillow; the lofty dome over head his covering; and no friend but his staff. But the God of his fathers comes there to him. He does not alter his present circumstances nor reverse the chastening. He lets him still pursue his way unfriended through twenty years hard service at the hand of a stranger, with many a wrong and injury to bear. But God gives him heavenly pledges that hosts on high should watch and wait around him.

The Lord had made, as we know, great promises to Abraham:the same were repeated to Isaac, and now, at Bethel, they are given to Jacob. But to Jacob something very distinct is added:"And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places wither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land ; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of" (ver. 15). This was a new promise, an added mercy, for Jacob needed it, as Abraham and Isaac had not. Jacob was the only one of the three who needed the promise that the Lord would be with him where-ever he went, and bring him home again.* *In perfect grace the promises of God are made to Jacob:"Behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land " etc.; but Jacob, in his vow (5:20) put it all in doubt:"If God will be with me and keep me," etc. May we not learn from Jacob that, in order to believe God, our heart needs to be near to God, as Jacob was not at that time. What a contrast to these "ifs" were the aged patriarch's ways and words in the latter part of his life. See Gen. chs. 48, 49-all this as the fruit of the Holy Spirit's patient work and discipline. Compare Heb. 12:6-10. [ED.* By his own naughtiness, Jacob had made this additional mercy necessary to himself, and, in abounding grace, he gets it-the vision of the ladder pledges it. The promises to Abraham and to Isaac had not included this providential, angelic care. They had remained in the land; but Jacob had made himself an exile, and needed the care and watching of a special oversight from heaven; and he gets it. It is to this, I believe, that Jacob alludes, when he says to Joseph, "The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors" (Chap.49:26). This angelic care, that watched over him, under direct commission from heaven, in his days of exile and drudgery, which his own error had incurred, distinguished him as an object of mercy, and gave him "blessings" above those of his "progenitors." And in this character he reached "the bounds of the everlasting hills."He was heir of the kingdom as a debtor to special mercy, through that abounding grace that had helped him and kept him amid the bitter fruits of his own naughtiness. As David, in his day, triumphed in "the everlasting-covenant "made with him, though for the present his house was in ruins through his own sin (2 Sam. 23).

This is God's way-excellent and perfect in the combination of grace and holiness. And upon this, let me observe, that in all circumstances there are two objects, and that nature eyes the one, and faith the other. Thus, in divine discipline, such as Jacob was now experiencing, there is the rod, and also the hand that is using it. Nature regards the first, faith recognizes the second. Job, in his day, broke down under the rod because he concerned himself with it alone. Had he eyed the purpose, the heart or the hand that was appointing it (as we are exhorted to do, Micah 6:9), he would have stood. But nature prevailed in him, and kept his eye upon the rod, and it was too much for him.

So in failures, as well as in circumstances, there are two objects. Conscience has its reason, and faith has its object. But conscience is not to be allowed to rob faith of its treasures, the treasures of pardoning and restoring grace, for which the love of God in Christ has provided.

There is great comfort in this. Nature is not to be over-busy with circumstances, nor conscience with failures. Nature is to feel that no affliction is for the present joyous, and conscience or heart may be broken, but in either case, faith is to stand at its post and do its duty. Much of the gracious energy of the Spirit in the epistles is engaged in putting faith at its post, and encouraging it to do its duty. The apostles, under the Holy Spirit's guidance, take knowledge of the danger and temptation we are under by nature; and while it is abundantly enforced that conscience is to be quick and jealous, yet it is required that faith shall maintain itself in the very face of it.

To know God in grace is His praise and our joy. We naturally, or according to the instincts of a legal mind, think of Him as one that exacts obedience and looks for service. But faith knows Him as one that communicates, that pardons, and speaks to us of our privileges, of the liberty and the blessing of our relationship to Him. J. G. Bellett